molting how long?

[revolutionhope]

been watching a YCS molt for at least 10 minutes now.. I dont know if this is common or normal? ive never seen this before - I thought moulting was usually a very quick process? also its doing it in the open and not hidden at all..

i fear this is not a good thing? looks possible it has successfully moulted the main part of its shell (took a while though) and is still struggling to shed the rest..

love n peace

will

[revolutionhope]

by god this is epic !! I keep thinking its dead then it continues to fight on!!

[revolutionhope]

a carbon rili just came along to hassle it or maybe munch on the shell.. and it sprang back out of the way and continued to moult.. looks like its almost made it now!! ps how the hell the carbon rili got into my ycs tank ill never know lol

[anthonyd]

Molting should only take a few seconds.

If it takes longer than that it is a bad sign

[revolutionhope]

yeh thats what I thought.. grabbing popcorn now. Hopefully this movie doesnt have a sad ending

[revolutionhope]

still kicking.. alas I have to head off for dinner. will be interesting to see when i return if the other tank-inhabitants are eating softshell shrimp for their own dinner.

[neo-2FX]

What happened revolution? Got any photos?

[revolutionhope]

just got and home.. ::drum roll::

 

he or she (looked like a he but not sure) SURVIVED!!! :-) i have looked as thoroughly as possible and can't find any dead shrimp, (if there was then there should be some feasting)

 

it happened far from the front of the tank so i don't think i got any decent photos as i only have the phone-camera but i'll check them out tomorrow and if any are clear enough i'll post for sure. it was raelly weird, it shed different parts of its shell at least 3 times.

 

it appeared to me as though it molted its body first, then half of its head, then the last (frontmost) part of its head while i was out at dinner.it got hassled twice while i was watching it and it sprang out of the way and continued to struggle its way out of the shell.

 

really was cool wish i had a high quality camera trained on the tank (and could speed it up like time-lapse) it was really special :-)

 

this has given me an obvious clue that i still have some way to go to improve the water conditions in the tank hehe :-) but im so so glad it survived YAY :-D

 

love n peace

 

will

[neo-2FX]

Glad to hear he/she survived!

[shrimphive]

times when this have happened to me ive intervened and helped pull the external shell from the body using long aquarium tweezers.... tricky thing is trying to do it without damaging the legs :)

[revolutionhope]

YIKES lol. surgeon extraordinaire

[revolutionhope]

ive had anither successful adult and a juvenile moult since that episode btw :-) the colour of the YCS are getting better everyday. BlueBolts yellow cherries are awesome !!